- Warm-up the hands.
- Stretch the wrists.
- Play the major and minor open chords.
- Warm up your strumming muscles by relaxing the wrists and letting the pick flow over the strings.
- Play the E major chord in the "new" way and play the type 1 barre chords.
- Play the A major chord in the "new" way and play the type 2 barre chords.
- Practice the "slanting A" technique.
- Practice the type 1 minor barre chords.
- Practice the type 2 minor barre chords.
- Play all of the type 1 mini-barre chords.
- Play all of the type 2 mini-barre chords.
- Review and practice quantitative and qualitative techniques.
- Review last week's exercises.
- Practice "wrist warming."

Ready?
Strumming is a rudimentary part of playing the guitar, and learning some of the various ways to go about it can make you a more diverse and well-rounded guitar player over time. When most of us start out, we have the tendency to strum all of the strings regardless of the chord we're playing. This is a natural tendency in lieu of the fact that we're in the process of learning so much information at once, that inevitably the accuracy of our strums might fall by the wayside. Nevertheless, it is important to become aware of the sound that we're producing from our guitars and make the necessary adjustments to our strums in order to create the most beautiful and refined sound as possible. In today's lesson, we're going to take a closer look at strumming and some techniques that will hopefully help you become a more precise and consistent guitar player.

What is strumming? Well, in its most simple and fundamental form strumming is the act of brushing one's fingers or pick across the strings of an instrument e.g. the guitar, right? But as you know by this point in your musical education, there’s a lot more than meets the eye to strumming effectively!

Chapter 2: (03:41) Under PressureUnder Pressure
Perhaps one of the most important facets of strumming the guitar and making it sound "pleasing" is the pressure one applies to the strings as one strums. Too little and you can’t hear it, too much and you may be crashing across the strings and producing an undesirable sound. So how do you find the right balance of pressure? Simple! Practice and experiment! Only by playing will you be able to find the appropriate amount of pressure necessary to produce the optimum sound from your particular guitar and your particular gauge of strings. Yes, the amount of pressure can change as a function of the instrument and strings (and style of playing too for that matter) especially if you use lighter strings. Lighter strings require more sensitivity. Ultimately though, it is of the utmost importance that one does not over-strum in order to produce the most refined sound that the instrument is capable of producing.

Make sure to stretch your wrist first (see previous wrist relaxation exercises) and strum from the wrist. Yes, your forearm will be moving, but the bulk of the movement should come from the wrist itself. Watch me in the video for more on this. Relax your fingers and wrist and allow the pick to flow over the strings. Hold the pick so that it's comfortable and loose in the fingers, but not so loose that the pick falls out. There is a balance that you will need to find for yourself, and part of that balance is finding the right pick for you. Some people do better with light picks, but most of the veteran guitar strummers I know use medium or heavy picks. I like the Jim Dunlop medium gray picks, because they tend to be easier to hold, yet are malleable enough to accommodate the strings. This is an extremely important point, because the pick is the only tool between you and the strings! If the pick is too hard (hard picks are generally better for picking, leads etc.), you may be prone to crash over the strings and loose the subtly that you need to produce a sweet sound. A pick that is too light may not produce the volume you need, and you may continually break picks in an attempt to increase your volume. So, pick selection is important!!! Experiment with different thicknesses until you find the pick that works best for you.

Alright, so assuming you've got a hold of a pick that suffices, at least for the moment, strum the Cadd9 chord. Focus on playing softly and listen carefully to the sound that you are producing from the guitar. How does it sound? Are you getting a nice sound from the instrument or does it sound as if your pick is grating and sliding over the strings abruptly? Some people have problems playing an upstroke in a particular rhythm and sometimes this can be caused by not allowing the pick to play on its alternate side. In other words, once the pick finishes its journey downward, the other side of the pick should be pressed against the strings. Both sides of the pick should be employed. In the video, I'll show you in detail how this should look and how to effectively use the pick so that both sides of the pick are used equally (in a down-up strum or snap-strum). Holding the pick more loosely between your fingers can help to remedy the problem.

Positioning
As I've mentioned in numerous previous lessons, how you position your strum hand will dictate which strings you strum as well as the accuracy and finesse of the strum itself. And once you have a good handle on playing chords, you will hopefully be able to focus at least a little more on your strum hand and the manner in which you position it in relation to the strings. Of additional import is your pick work and your ability to manage the pick effectively as we discussed in the previous page. All of these facets combined will help you to become a better strummer and subsequently, a better guitar player. Check this out!

In the next series of exercises position your strum hand specifically in relation to the strings that are being held down in each chord. Focus on keeping your strum hand in place and in control so that only the strings indicated are being strummed.

Play the A5 chord:A5
E_x_
B_x_
G_x_
D_2_
A_0_
E_x_

Exercise 2
Place your strum hand right at the D-string with your pick resting on the string itself. Keeping a minimal amount of distance between your pick and the string(s) you intend to strum can help to eliminate error and sloppiness in your strums. Using the strum from Exercise 1, strum only the D and G-strings. Hopefully you noticed that I indicated that only two strings should be played. Yes, a power chord is only technically a diad and not a full chord. Make sure that you are only strumming the two strings indicated and strumming primarily from the wrist. Keep your forearm motion limited and focus on relaxing and playing from the wrist. Play the strum slowly at first until you get a good feel for strumming only two strings at a time. Then, increase the tempo as you get more comfortable.

Exercise 3
Play this Asus2 chord:

Asus2
E_0_
B_0_
G_2_
D_2_
A_0_
E_x__

Place your strum hand again right at the D-string with your pick resting on the string. Strum the D, G, and B strings. Since you will be strumming a downstroke first, it will be helpful for you to keep the pick in proximity to the string that you are striking first - in this case, the D. If you were starting your rhythm with an upstroke, you could rest your pick on the G or B strings. It's always good to have an awareness of your starting point in the strum sequence so that you are in close proximity to the strings. Again, limit your arm motion and focus on fully relaxing your wrist.

Chapter 4: (07:44) CirclesExercise 4

Play the open A major chord:

A
E_0_
B_2_
G_2_
D_2_
A_0_
E_x_

Repeat Exercise 3. Now however, you are free to strum all of the top four strings: D, G, B and E. Try to avoid strumming the A and low E strings if you can by keeping your strum hand in close proximity to the high strings. What have you noticed so far about these exercises? Have you been able to control your strum hand and keep it from straying away from the strings that you are targeting? Control of the strum hand comes with practice and focus. Also, as you gain more control over your strumming hand, you become free to focus your attention on nailing chord changes with your fretting hand.

Exercise 5
Go through the same process outlined above. This time, use a series of C chords:

Cmaj9
E_0_
B_0_
G_0_
D_0_
A_3_
E_x_

Cmaj7
E_0_
B_0_
G_0_
D_2_
A_3_
E_x_

C
E_0_
B_1_
G_0_
D_2_
A_3_
E_x_

Start by playing only the A and D strings and work your way up to playing the A, D, G, and B strings. Remember to relax your wrist and really focus on allowing the pick to flow over the strings. Gradually expand the distance that you are allowing your strum hand to move to accommodate the number of strings you will be strumming. Try this exercise with other chords as well, and see how you can apply this technique in other scenarios.

Supplemental Learning Material

Member Comments about this Lesson

Great lesson on double string strumming ala Stevie Ray Vaughn>Soul to Soul.You are dead on>practice,practice,practice,go slow..then build up your speed once you are able to develop ones' accuracy,pitch.I'm there,thanks to you and JamPlay.BTW chord substitution(going from A to Asus2)opens endless doors whatever chord you are playing.Awesome instructer.

Thanks for this lesson. Strumming is hard for me. I have to remind myself time and time again to relax my wrist. I especially have trouble with the up motion. Thanks for helping me clarify these important concepts. This is a lesson I'll repeat

Mark brings us a very appealing aspect to better understand the guitar. With his explanation of "liquified" chords, mark will explain how to move up and down the guitar to create different chord voicing.

Length: 25:32Difficulty: 2.0Members Only

About Mark LincolnView Full Biography
Mark Lincoln was born in S. California but was raised near Portland Oregon in a town called Beaverton. When he was twelve years old, he began his journey into the realm of the creative by composing poetry and was later published in a journal called "In Dappled Sunlight." He wrote for four years until his older sister blessed him with his first guitar, an old beat-up nylon stringed classical guitar. Mark played that guitar for five years, continuing to compose his own lyrics and starting the process of matching his own words with chords that he was learning on the guitar. He learned to play chords from his friends and from music books that he both bought and borrowed. Mark cited his four biggest influences, at that point at least, as The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, The Rolling Stones.

Mark cites his most current influences as Radiohead, U2, older music by REM, and Peter Gabriel amongst others. He performs with two acoustic guitars, one being a six-string M-36 Martin with a three-pieced back for increased bass response, and a Guild Twelve-string which is his most recent acquisition. Mark is fond of saying that the twelve-string guitar is better because you get two guitars for the price of one, but he still plays his Martin equally as much and with the same passion.

Mark ended up in Fort Collins Colorado where he currently lives, works as a Marriage and Family Therapist, and continues to write, teach and perform music. He currently performs with a group called "Black Nelson" as well as with a number of other seasoned professional musicians including his cousin David, a virtuoso lead-guitar player. Mark has performed in many of the smaller venues in Denver and Boulder, as well as some of the larger ones including the Fox Theatre, The Boulder Theatre, Herman's Hideaway, and also at The Soiled Dove where he opened for Jefferson Starship as a soloist. Some of Mark's originals are also available for your listening pleasure on MySpace.

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